27 May 2018
A Greater Wealth
Passage Hebrews 11:17-40
Speaker Chris Haley
Meeting Morning
Series Hebrews: Jesus is Greater
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Passage: Hebrews 11:17-40
Transcript
Introduction
The life of faith can be hard. It can seem so pathetic compared to what the people in the Old Testament had, doesn’t it? When you read of Enoch or Moses or Abraham, and you think, wow! I wish I’d have lived then! Seeing God do amazing things, living through all that amazing stuff. Our life, I imagine, seems quite tame, quite pedestrian in comparison. Where are the amazing things now? Where’s all the excitement?
The Hebrew Christians our unknown author was writing to are beginning to ask similar questions. They had been going through some hard times. They were tempted to ditch their faith in Christ and go back to their Jewish roots. After all, wasn’t that the faith of Enoch, Moses, and Abraham? Wasn’t that the better life? All it seemed their life with Jesus had got them so far was suffering and persecution. As they’d had their stuff taken, as they’d been thrown in prison. Isn’t this life just pathetic compared to these heroes we’ve been hearing about since birth?
Our author is writing to them to show them what real faith looked like in the Old Testament heroes that they had. He is writing to show them how they persevered in their faith and how that faith is the same as the faith they have in Jesus. He is pointing out to them the characteristics of faith that mean that they will keep going and not ditch Christ. We saw last week from verse 1 that persevering faith is assured of the unseen—the spiritual realities behind our day-to-day life, the truths that help us make sense of what is going on. Persevering faith is also persuaded by the promises of God, trusting in what God has promised more than what their eyes can see. We saw some major figures who showed this last week, and we’re going to continue on this week. Look out for those things as we go through. We’re mainly going to look at two major stories of faith this morning and then some others, shorter ones.
Our first one is Abraham.
Abraham’s Story of Faith Was Victory Over Death
Abraham’s story, verses 17 to 19. Abraham was 100 years old when Sarah had Isaac. This was a culture where you married young. They could have been married for well over 80 years. Eighty years and no child. The anguish must have been awful. The stigma in that culture on Sarah must have been awful. Infertility was seen as a sign of displeasure from the gods. But finally, after decades of waiting, Sarah had a son. They called him Isaac, which means laughter. Partly because Sarah laughed when she overheard the angel tell Abraham she would bear him a son. But partly—this is just speculation—the joy it must have been to have a child after waiting for so long!
Isaac was a special child. Ishmael, Abraham’s other son by Hagar, the slave woman, was kicked out along with her mother. God told Abraham that the promises he had received of the promised land, a numerous people, and great blessing would pass on through Isaac. It was through Isaac’s offspring that would become this people as numerous as the sand on the seashore, verse 18.
But one day, God spoke to Abraham again. God asked Abraham to take Isaac, his son, his only beloved son, and sacrifice him on Mount Moriah—what we now know as Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Can you imagine how Abraham felt? He had waited his whole lifetime for this special son by Sarah. Decades they had waited for God’s promises to come to pass. Now, just as it seemed possible, God was asking Abraham to take away the thing seemingly most precious to him—his son.
What was Abraham to do? God’s promises seemed to say one thing: descendants through Isaac. But his command seemed to say something else: sacrifice Isaac. How could the two possibly fit together? Which was he to believe? In our passage in Hebrews, we’re given insight into the thinking process of Abraham. Abraham reasons by faith. Not a contradiction in terms! Unbelief is the opposite of faith, not reason. Abraham reasons that if God wants him to sacrifice Isaac and yet God will give him descendants by Abraham, then God will raise him from the dead! Of course, God stops him right at the last moment and provides a ram instead. But Abraham fully believed that he would receive Isaac back. Figuratively, we’re told, he did. In some Jewish myths, he actually did! Isaac died of fright, and God brought him back again. Here, though, it’s just figurative. It’s as if he got him back from the dead.
All this gives the whole Abraham-offering-Isaac story a little bit of different emphasis. It’s not so much that Abraham was willing to give up the thing most precious to him, though he was. It’s that Abraham had faith that even death would not stop God from keeping His promises. That Abraham had so much faith in the promises of God, he was prepared, when asked, to destroy the only earthly means there was to fulfill that promise. Abraham believed God could do the impossible. It was impossible to Abraham; we’re not told of anyone raised to life in that way before Abraham. He believed God could do something he’d never even seen! We know God is in the raising-from-the-dead business, but Abraham didn’t! Of course, Abraham was right! But he didn’t know that. He had faith that it was true because he took God at His word—he believed His promises. And because of that, Hebrews says, he had victory over death. He received Isaac back from the dead.
Then Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are tagged on to Abraham. Isaac and Jacob, verses 20 to 21. They both had victory over death too, in a manner of speaking. The blessing they received carried on after death. How? They passed it on to their children. Isaac to Jacob and Esau, Jacob to the sons of Joseph. Why the sons of Joseph? Why not all? That’s where we see most clearly Jacob’s faith. He blesses the younger over the older. Same as Isaac, but Isaac was tricked into it. Jacob does it by faith, perceiving the unseen. He’s also an example of persevering to the end. Jacob had a pretty messed-up life. Yet he persevered to the end. He does this act of faith “while dying.” He’s old, but he’s still worshipping God, bowing his head on his walking stick! Oh, let that be me!
Joseph also has faith which conquers the grave, quite literally. He refuses to be buried in Egypt. Instead, he makes his family promise they will take his bones back to the promised land when they return at the Exodus. The Exodus, Joseph? Wrong book! That will come 400 years later. Yet Joseph believes it. It wasn’t a special revelation to Joseph—Abraham had been told this would happen. Genesis 15:13-14, “Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.’” Joseph just believes God’s promises and acts accordingly. And they do it. When the Israelites enter the promised land, they take Joseph’s bones and bury them in the promised land. He had victory even after death. All of these had victory through faith, even over death!
Moses’ story of faith was a little different, though.
Moses’ Story of Faith Was Choosing Suffering Over Sin
Moses’ story, verses 23 to 28. Moses was born at a time when the Israelites were living in Egypt. They were immigrants in the land, and as so often has happened through history, because of this, they became slaves to the native inhabitants. But even though they were slaves, people in Egypt began to fear the immigrants. The children of Israel had grown immensely in 400 years, from 72 to over a million people. Yes, the math does work! It would only take five to six generations if each couple had 12 kids like Jacob did. They could form an army; they could overthrow the Egyptians! So the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, decreed that every baby boy born should be killed by the midwives. But it didn’t work—the midwives wouldn’t do it. So he decreed every baby boy of the Israelites should be thrown in the river Nile. This was what we’d now call ethnic cleansing. The girls would have to marry Egyptians and become part of Egyptian culture. The Israelites would cease to exist within a generation.
At this time, Moses was born. But instead of allowing him to be thrown into the Nile, his parents hid him. Two reasons, apart from the obvious—he’s their son! He was beautiful. Some commentators go with the fact he is physically beautiful—not the case. Every parent thinks their child is beautiful! Illustration: Facebook. Doesn’t fit with faith—belief in the unseen. Much better to think that they perceived by faith something special about Moses. The word “beautiful” isn’t the usual word for beautiful. The word here literally means “of the city,” the opposite of a country bumpkin, if you like! Could it be, though, that his parents can somehow see that he’s of the city? The city we talked about last week—the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem. That would make more sense, wouldn’t it? How? Humanly speaking, I have no idea—but none of this is humanly speaking, that’s the point. They saw there was something special about him.
They were not afraid of the king’s edict. They no doubt could have been killed for their blatant flouting of the king’s edict. But they didn’t fear Pharaoh, just like the Hebrews hadn’t feared the authorities when they visited those in prison. Their faith made them bold, even in the face of one who had power over their life and death. They hide him, then when they can do it no longer, they trust him to God’s keeping and set him out in his own little ark. Not for him to die, but like the other ark, so that he might be saved. Pharaoh’s daughter finds him, brings him out of the water. Moses’ sister has followed the ark and suggests to Pharaoh’s daughter she can find someone to nurse the child. Moses is passed back to his mother, who raises him until he is ready to be given back to Pharaoh’s daughter.
And when Moses grows up, he takes after his parents. He is not afraid of Pharaoh but refuses to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Here’s where we need to get Prince of Egypt out of our head. He was not raised as Pharaoh’s son, but as his grandson. His rival would not have been his adopted brother, but his uncle or cousin. He didn’t associate with the Israelites because he had no option. His association with his people was a choice. Acts tells us of the murdering of the Egyptian that… Acts 7:25, “He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.” His association with his people was deliberate. That is possibly why Pharaoh then sought to kill him. He chose to throw his lot in with the slaves rather than enjoy sin with slave masters.
What was the sin he was renouncing? More than likely life in the Egyptian court with its excesses and indulgences. That would fit with the fleeting pleasures mentioned. Moses seemed to have grasped this. The pleasures of Pharaoh’s court were enjoyable in one way, but not lasting, not enduring. Moses looked instead to the future, to the unseen. He saw that the reproach of God’s anointed one was worth way more than the temporary, fleeting pleasures of sin. Why? Because he was looking to the reward. Moses wasn’t anti-pleasure; he was pro-pleasure. Lasting pleasure, eternal pleasure. He was a pleasure seeker, just not a this-worldly pleasure seeker. Moses could see he could never enjoy the pleasures of heaven and the pleasures of sin. So he chose lasting pleasure over fleeting pleasure. He chose suffering with his people over sinking into sin. Jonathan Edwards calls it the expulsive power of superior pleasure. You fight fire with fire, pleasure with pleasure.
The only issue is the future lasting pleasure is by faith. It isn’t tangible now; we have to trust that it is coming. Illustration: Imagine I promised you one piece of chocolate now or a bar of chocolate later. We all know the logic! But in life, what do we actually choose? We choose the easy over the eternal. We choose the now over the never-ending. But Moses had faith; he trusted that reward, though unseen, was real. His faith was such that he turned down pleasures now that he might enjoy pleasures at the end. Do we believe a reward is coming for those who chose to be mistreated with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin? Do we count that reward as greater than the treasures of Egypt—the wealthiest nation on Earth at that time? Do we have faith like Moses to do that?
But his story doesn’t finish there. He didn’t suffer passively. He invited the anger of Pharaoh as he pronounced plagues on Egypt. Again, like his parents, he was unafraid of the king. What kept him going? By faith, it was as though he saw the invisible. More than that, he saw God. Back to our series on joy. The fight for joy is a fight to see the glory of God. That brings us joy and transformation. Moses endured as if he could really see that with his eyes. His vision of God strengthened him to stand before the most powerful man in the world and tell him straight what God had said. He endures as if he could see the invisible. He endured by faith.
The plagues, of course, culminated in the death of the firstborn. Moses kept the Passover with his people, trusting that the destroyer would pass over them because of the sprinkled blood. In that sense, he’s not a million miles away from us. Don’t we trust that the destroyer will pass over us, not because of anything good in us, but because of the sprinkled blood? Moses sprinkled that blood for the Israelites. Jesus sprinkled His own blood for you and me, that we might be passed over. Moses lived by faith.
And so did the Israelites, for a little while. They are tagged on at the end of Moses’ story. Israelites and walls and Rahab, verses 29 to 31. Three things are mentioned here: the Israelites, the walls, Rahab. The Israelites show faith by crossing the Red Sea on dry land. They trust the walls of water won’t come crashing down. And they don’t. But they do on the Egyptians, who don’t make it to the end. The walls of Jericho are said to have come down by faith. The opposite of passing through the water, when the walls stay up, yet both by faith. Rahab is also mentioned. She beats death by faith, welcoming the spies, trusting in their God. She chose the life of the people of God too and threw her lot in with them, just like Moses did. She didn’t know that they would win. But she chose life with them over sin with her own people. She, like Moses, chose that life over a life of sin.
What follows after Rahab is like that countdown on Top of the Pops—quickfire faith!
More Stories of Victory by Faith and Suffering by Faith
What follows are two amazing lists—“amazing” and “lists” don’t appear in sentences very often together—verses 32 to 35a. Time is running short for him; he’s 31 verses in, and we’re only just after the Exodus! So he lists off other people of faith from the Old Testament: Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel, and a catch-all for those later, the prophets. What is it that makes these people so amazing? The author is brief, so we’ll be brief—first, we get victories like Abraham did. Conquered kingdoms, like King David. Enforced justice, like all the judges and Samuel. Obtained promises, like David’s promise of a son who would rule forever. Stopped the mouths of lions—David and Samson both fought with lions. More likely Daniel in mind, who trusted God in the pit and was rescued. Quenched the power of fire, probably Daniel’s friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were not afraid of the king and were thrown into a fiery furnace, trusting that God could rescue them. This is worth quoting, as it sums up what he’s saying. Daniel 3:14-19, “Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, ‘Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? … If you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?’ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.’” They are thrown in the fiery furnace, but God rescues them.
Escaped the edge of the sword—David did this on numerous occasions when escaping from Saul. The judges did this as they fought for the kingdom. Were made strong out of weakness—again, most of the judges, probably especially Gideon in mind, could be Elijah. Became mighty in war—many on the list again. Put foreign armies to flight—David and Goliath, perhaps! Listen to David’s faith in his God. 1 Samuel 17:44-47, “The Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.’ Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.’” Women received back their dead by resurrection—a reference to the prophets Elijah and Elisha. All these people had great victories for God by faith, not in their own strength but in God’s, believing in His promises, trusting in the unseen.
There is another side to it, though: not only did they enjoy victories by faith, they endured suffering by faith too, verses 35a to 38. The life of faith is a life of suffering in this world, but faith is what sustains us through the suffering. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. Jeremiah was repeatedly beaten and put in stocks. The prophet Micaiah was imprisoned by King Ahab. They were stoned—Zechariah was stoned to death for rebuking the people. According to tradition, Jeremiah was stoned to death in Egypt. They were sawn in two—apparently how the prophet Isaiah died, hiding out in a tree that was ordered to be sawn in two with him in it! They were killed with the sword—the prophets of the Lord were slaughtered on a number of occasions in the Old Testament. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—the clothing of the poor and needy. Yet the world was not worthy of them! They lived as strangers and exiles in this world, just as Abraham did and just as we are called to do as Christians.
Suffering is an atrocious, awful abomination in our world. It is also completely normal for the Christian. The Hebrew Christians weren’t to think God was picking on them. Men and women of faith have always suffered down through the ages. What kept them going was their faith! The author wants the Hebrews to remember this as they face a hard time and are tempted to turn back. The Hebrew Christians are not alone in their suffering; they have a great cloud of witnesses to encourage them, chapter 12, verse 1. The word “witnesses” is actually the word “martyrs”—we see why from this chapter.
That was then, though. What about now? Well, he comes to address the Hebrew Christians in verses 39 to 40.
What’s Your Story?
He sums it all up by reminding us that all these were commended for their faith—their belief in the unseen and the promises of God. They didn’t receive what was promised. Why? Because they belonged to the age of promise, not the age of fulfilment. They lived under the Old Covenant of promise, looking forward to the New Covenant of fulfilment. Actually, it’s only now, under the New Covenant, that we have what they looked forward to: assurance of forgiveness, access to God, a Great High Priest—Christ the Lord. So that, actually, what we have is better than what they had, not worse, as we might be tempted to think. And without us, they are not complete or perfect—why? Because they have only half the equation. They don’t have the answer. We have the answer. We have the fulfilment. We live this side of the cross. We are in a better position than they were! “God had provided something better for us.” We follow in their pattern, but we do so in a better position than even they were.
That’s our story of faith. We live in the age of fulfilment; Christ has come, but we still live by faith like those who went before us. We live in the overlap of the ages; the new has come, but the old has not yet gone, so we must carry on in faith. We have better things than they do—we actually possess them. But we do so by faith. They are held in trust, if you like, but they really are ours. Abraham and the others longed to see the days we live in now. We have things better. We know and have the fulfilment. Now, faith one day will be swallowed up by sight, but not just yet.
Now we still live by faith, treading the path our ancestors in the faith trod. Trusting in the promises of God, believing in the unseen realities behind our lives—the smiling face behind the frowning providence. Choosing solid joys and lasting treasure over passing ones. Risking what we have now for the certainty of what is to come. Enduring through suffering and hardships, knowing that He will not abandon us. Let’s pray that God would give us strength to grasp all that God has given us as His people this side of the cross.